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Filmmaker Nicole Holofcener recently received a Academy-Award nomination for adapted screenplay and won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film "Can You Ever Forgive Me?." We'll revisit our conversation with Nicole – when she stopped by we talked about another one of her recent projects, "The Land of Steady Habits." She'll also discuss her childhood growing up among Hollywood filmmaking royalty. Show notes

Hal Lublin

This week Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Matthew Klein! He’s the VP of sales and marketing for Valiant Comics. Matthew has some vivid memories of wrestling from throughout his life; so vivid that he’s willing to share them with anyone, even his therapist.

The team will focus on Elimination Chamber, the second to last PPV before WrestleMania.

The highlight of the show was Kofi Kingston narrowly coming up short for his first WWE Championship in the main event. Even though some have shrugged this off as a band wagon situation, the panel vehemently disagrees and will explain why Kofi has always been ready to be in this position.

Plus, there were tons of NXT stars who made their debuts on RAW and Smackdown this week. While it’s not clear how Ricochet, Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa and Aleister Black will be used going forward, they made a great impression that should bode well for their continued success.

All of this, plus the latest on Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair, Chyna’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of DX and why the main event of WrestleMania is still very much up in the air.

TO GET A SPECIAL COPY OF ISSUE NO. 1 OF "LIVEWIRE" LISTEN FOR THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION:

Which famous Broadway actress gets a shoutout in this episode?

GO TO TWITTER WITH THE ANSWER AND TAG @VALIANTCOMICS WITH THE HASHTAG #LiverwireTAF. A WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN FROM THE CORRECT ANSWERS AT RANDOM!

This week Hal, Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Chris Gethard! He’s a comedian who’s worked in TV and hosts the podcast "Beautiful/ Anonymous". He’s also someone who wouldn’t let a little thing like parent’s permission get in the way of his childhood wrestling fandom.

To start, the team will discuss some of the biggest things that happened in wrestling this week.

This includes things in WWE like Kofi Kingston’s new opportunity to the WWE Championship and the fact that Charlotte has officially been inserted into the RAW women’s title match against Ronda Rousey. Regarding the latter, it was something we all saw coming. So how are we feeling now that it’s official?

Beyond WWE, AEW had a lot of talent announcements from this week, with confirmations that Nyla Rose, Sonny Kiss and Kenny Omega are now under contract. Plus, Jay White is now the IWGP heavyweight champion after beating Hiroshi Tanahashi. Where do these moves leave each respective promotions as they prepare for the rest of 2019?

The Beatdown: Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart

After Hulk Hogan left WWF, the company faced a creative valley as it searched for its next big star. Eventually, two stars emerged in the early to mid-90’s that would be expected to carry to the company: Bret “The Hitman” Hart and The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels. Their talent eventually coalesced into one of the most bitter rivalries in WWF and a moment that would change wrestling forever.

The team will get into the biggest moments that defined their story from the WrestleMania to the Montreal Screwjob to their reconciliation in Dayton, Ohio.

This week, our teams give a listener advice on friendships and pizza dough, tell embarrassing stories from college, and Dave's mom makes a special appearance for a game we're calling "What Celebrity is Dave's Mom Talking About?"

This week Hal, Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Omar Holmon. He’s the content editor for the website Black Nerd Problems. He’ll explain which part of WWE is keeping him engaged with the company’s programming.

WWE is currently building towards Elimination Chamber, which will likely determine who will be the WWE champion going into WrestleMania. One of the competitors in that match is Samoa Joe. He’s been doing brilliant work. But how much has his character taken a hit with all of the losses he’s accumulated?

Becky Lynch will also likely pay a big part in this event. She’s the most active part of WWE TV these days, appearing on both RAW and Smackdown as part of the story to her match with Ronda Rousey at Wrestlemania. We’ll discuss how WWE’s playing with the possibility of Charlotte entering the match… and if Asuka has been lost in the shuffle as Smackdown women’s champion.

All of this, plus the on-going drama surrounding Dean Ambrose, the possibility of Seth Rollins working hurt and the return of Halftime Heat on the WWE network.

Main Event

In just a few weeks, WWE will crown its inaugural women’s tag team champions. It’s been a long time coming and there are tons of talented women who will compete for the titles. But do we have any assurance that WWE will be able to build this into something consistently interesting? And who should be trusted as the first champions to help establish the division?

This week Hal, Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Vita Ayala. They’re a comic book writer whose work has been published by Marvel, DC Comics and Valiant. Before getting into the news, Vita will explain how they getting into wrestling led to them to some rough sleeping arrangements growing up.

For a limited time, from Thursday, January 31st to Sunday, February 10,Tights and Fights listeners can go to Comixology and put LIVEWIRE #1 in their cart and enter the code LIVEWIREFIGHTS at checkout to access it for free!

NXT TakeOver: Phoenix

Like most of the last few TakeOvers, this show was built around the ongoing drama between Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. Now both of these two are on the same page and are champions. What’s the future hold for Dark-DIY?

And while those two are fixtures of TakeOvers, Bianca Belair had her first showing at the event, coming up short against Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s championship. But no one on the panel is ready for this feud to be over any time soon.

Plus, how the War Raiders finally won us over as the top tag team on RAW, who the ashiest NXT star may be and why Matt Riddle has gotta wear some shoes (a controversial take, to be sure).

The Royal Rumble

For the second consecutive year, WWE succeeded in giving us two great Royal Rumble winners. Seth Rollins won the men’s contest and is in line to face Brock Lesnar for the Universal title and Becky Lynch was a late entrant in the women’s Rumble and will finally have her match against Ronda Rousey.

But that doesn’t mean we’re on board with everything that happened on Sunday. Was it the best move to have Asuka tap Becky out in the opening match of the night? And why didn’t WWE ever address why Finn Balor didn’t use his Demon persona in his match against Lesnar?

All of that, plus all of the fallout on RAW and Smackdown and our favorite moments from one of the most chaotic matches in all of WWE.

This week Ha land Lindsey discuss the premier of WOW: Women of Wrestling. The show finally made its AXS TV debut last Friday. It’s got tons of great action and colorful performers. But does it lean too far into caricature rather than character? We’ll discuss.

Plus, Finn Balor and Daniel Bryan have major title matches at WWE’s Royal Rumble event on Sunday. Will Finn regain the Universal Title against Brock Lesnar and fulfill the underdog win of the decade? Will Daniel Bryan retain the WWE Title against AJ Styles in his quest to be the planet’s champion?

And with the WrestleMania card still looking murky, there are still tons of options in play including who will take on Ronda Rousey for the RAW women’s title, whether or not Asuka will still be the Smackdown Women’s champion and plenty more

Main Event

It’s the annual event that symbolizes the road to WrestleMania: The Royal Rumble. Last year we had two really solid versions of the match. Will the men and women be able to deliver shows of similar quality? How should the women follow up their second ever edition of the event? And who do we expect to be the winners?

This week Hal and Lindsey discuss NXT TakeOver: Blackpool. It was the very major TakeOver event from the UK side of WWE’s developmental promotion. Responses from viewers were incredibly strong, with plenty of familiar faces to reintroduce some new ones to a wider audience. What’s behind the positivity surrounding the brand? And what does the future hold, especially now that WALTER has debuted to challenge Pete Dunne for the UK Championship?

One person who was at the TakeOver event was Finn Balor. But that was just the start of his week. Not only did he defeat his protege Jordan Devlin, but he was named the new number one contender for the Universal Championship! But do we have any hope that he’s going to win, even with that +10 Demon modifier?

Plus, WWE introduced their brand new Women’s Tag Team Championships. The designs are great, but WWE hasn’t followed it up with quality women’s wrestling for all of its stars. There’s some great stuff like with Becky Lynch and the IIconics; And then there are some awful things like Mandy Rose’s home-wrecker character and Alexa Bliss being involved in a topless segment. What’s the response to the inconsistency?

Stephy Slays

Stephy Slays began wrestling when she was 18 years old. Now that she’s 25, she’s come a long way; from learning how to take her first bump, to developing her character and training the next generation of stars for WOW Women of Wrestling. She’ll tell us all about how she got her start, what her goals are and why wrestling helped her combat her depression.

This week Hal, Danielle and Lindsey are joined by Shawn Marek. He’s a podcast host and producer who’s worked with wrestlers such as Lance Storm, Steve Austin and more on their respective shows.

The panel will take a deep dive into New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom 13. The annual show from Japan featured matches from Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Jay White and more. The show had the feeling of the start of a new era, with champions The Young Bucks, Cody and Kenny Omega all losing their titles.

The reason for that is that Cody and the Bucks will be devoted to their new promotion All Elite Wrestling. The organization had their first ever promotional press rally that outlined new details on the company. That includes practices like equal pay for men and women and paying for wrestling injuries. Also announced was the involvement of stars like Britt Baker, PAC, Hangman Page and Chris Jericho.

What are the reasonable expectations for AEW as it gets set for launch? What does this mean for Kenny Omega, now that his New Japan contract is done and he’s courting offers from multiple parties? And where does New Japan go now that the baton has been passed to a new crop of stars?

All of this and plenty more… including some yelling about Hulk Hogan showing up on RAW.

Evolution was WWE’s very first all-women Pay-Per-View. And by most accounts, the event delivered in just about every way possible, including providing a candidate for match of the year. Mike, Hal, Danielle and Lindsey provide their reactions to the matches (including Lindsey’s account from attending the event in person).

But now this is immediately being followed up Crown Jewel. Not only will no women wrestlers be at the event, but John Cena and Daniel Bryan have also been written out due to, in all likelihood, their own personal disagreement.

Plus, Lindsey and Mike explain their feelings about Roman Reigns’s leukemia diagnosis and WWE decision to immediately capitalize on the real-life illness for story-telling purposes. How do you balance the need for the show to go on with sensitivity towards consequential issues? Especially with WWE toeing the line between characters and reality as much as ever with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins?

All this, including Danielle looking forward to Lucha Underground’s Ultima Lucha Cuatro, finding out who attacked Aleister Black and grooving to that sweet sweet Brood music.

Roman Reigns opened RAW with the announcement that he will be surrendering the Universal Championship since his leukemia has returned. This was the first time Roman had gone public with his diagnosis. His first encounter with the disease was 11 years ago.

Danielle and Hal discuss their reactions to the news, including why it affected them personally, their hopes for Roman’s return and what this means for a Monday Night RAW and WWE that now has to move forward without their biggest full-time star.

Plus, the pair will discuss the lackluster build to Evolution. The booking has been slipshod and lackluster for the past several months. Outside of the novelty of a brand new women’s only event, WWE hasn’t done much to get people excited about this show. Add in the fact that it’s happening so close to Crown Jewel, which won’t include any women and will still air from Saudi Arabia, and it’s hard to take the “women’s evolution” seriously these days.